Fifty-eight initiatives spearheaded by main U.S. energy stakeholders will obtain as much as $3.5 billion in federal funding to enhance grid flexibility and enhance energy system resiliency in opposition to excessive climate and local weather change, the Biden administration introduced on Oct. 18.
The initiatives mark the Division of Power’s (DOE’s) first aggressive choices underneath the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Program. The $10.5 billion program launched by the 2021-enacted Infrastructure Funding and Jobs Act (IIJA) designates funding for three mechanisms via 2026: $2.5 billion in aggressive grants for Utility and Trade Grid Resilience, $3 billion for Sensible Grid grants, and $5 billion for Grid Innovation.
The DOE on Wednesday famous the funding is “the most important single direct funding in vital grid infrastructure ever.” All the chosen initiatives have Justice40 commitments, and 86% both include labor union partnerships or will contain collective bargaining agreements, it famous.
Sixteen Grid Resilience Utility and Trade Grants
The DOE mentioned it chosen 16 initiatives—for a complete of as much as $919 million in federal funding—to assist “actions that can modernize the electrical grid to cut back impacts from excessive climate and pure disasters.” This system is designed to “fund complete transformational transmission and distribution know-how options that can mitigate climate hazards throughout a area or inside a group, together with wildfires, floods, hurricanes, excessive warmth, excessive chilly, and excessive climate occasions that may trigger a disruption to the facility system,” it famous.
Whereas the cost-shared funding was opened to submissions from grid operators, electrical energy storage operators, mills, transmission house owners or operators, distribution suppliers, and gasoline suppliers (and the DOE acquired 289 idea papers), a lot of the 16 initiatives might be spearheaded by utilities.
The DOE notably awarded $100 million every to Michigan-based Shoppers Power, Pennsylvania utility PECO, and Xcel Power. Shoppers Power proposes to make use of the funding to improve its circuit techniques and improve capability at native substations to raised assist redundancy in deprived communities. PECO will handle substation flood mitigation, upgrading underground monitoring and management applied sciences, deploying battery techniques for backup energy, changing growing older infrastructure, and putting in high-temperature low-sag conductors to extend capability throughout Southern Pennsylvania. Xcel plans to implement seven initiatives in its Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas service territory to offer system-wide wildfire threat mitigation.
The choices additionally embrace a number of electrical cooperatives. The Nationwide Rural Electrical Cooperative Affiliation (NRECA), a nationwide commerce group representing 900 native co-ops, instructed POWER $100 million of funding introduced on Wednesday will go to 39 co-ops throughout the nation for a spread of initiatives targeted on native wildfire mitigation. “Electrical cooperatives are targeted on leveraging progressive options to satisfy tomorrow’s vitality wants,” mentioned NRECA CEO Jim Matheson. “This infrastructure funding is a crucial step as electrical co-ops work to harden techniques in opposition to wildfires and improve the reliability of the grid.”
Entergy New Orleans will obtain $55 million to fund a line-hardening and battery microgram venture. Entergy, in a press release despatched to POWER, mentioned the funding is a big win for the Metropolis of New Orleans. “Federal grant funds at this scale will allow us to make our grid stronger—to maintain the lights on longer when storms threaten sooner or later, and to revive energy extra shortly when service is interrupted. These funds will assist offset the price burden on our prospects. We’re deeply grateful to the DOE and to everybody who supported our software,” mentioned Deanna Rodriguez, president and CEO of Entergy New Orleans.
Eight Grid Innovation Initiatives Get a Mixed $1.4B in Federal Funds
As much as $1.4 billion of the the DOE’s Grid Innovation funding will go to eight recipients (chosen from 135 idea papers) from an array of state, tribal, and native governments entities. The funding will additional collaboration with the facility business and bolster initiatives that use progressive approaches to transmission, storage, and distribution infrastructure to boost grid resilience and reliability, the DOE mentioned.
The largest Grid Innovation recipient is the Minnesota Division of Commerce, which can obtain $464 million to coordinate the planning, design, and development of 5 transmission initiatives throughout seven Midwestern states, often known as the Joint Focused Interconnection Queue (JTIQ) Portfolio. JTIQ, launched by the Southwest Energy Pool (SPP) and Midcontinent Unbiased System Operator (MISO) in 2020, goals at constructing transmission community upgrades alongside the MISO-SPP seams to allow new generator interconnections.
The funding may “exhibit a replicable and scalable resolution to interregional interconnection and transmission planning research,” the DOE mentioned. It may additionally leverage holistic long-range research of technology initiatives and regionally optimized transmission options, allocate prices amongst initiatives over time with an progressive mounted per-MW cost, and “unlock roughly 30 GWs of recent technology, primarily wind and photo voltaic vitality.”
$1.1B for Sensible Grid Initiatives
The DOE may also dole out $1.1 billion in federal funding to 34 initiatives that search to improve the flexibleness, effectivity, and reliability of the electrical energy system.
“These grants will fund know-how targeted on rising capability of the transmission system, stopping faults that will result in wildfires or different system disturbances, integrating renewable vitality on the transmission and distribution ranges, and facilitating the combination of accelerating electrified automobiles, buildings, and different grid-edge units,” the DOE mentioned. “Sensible grid applied sciences funded and deployed at scale underneath this program will exhibit a pathway to wider market adoption.”
What’s Subsequent?
The DOE launched funding alternatives for the three packages in November 2022. It says it anticipates opening a second funding cycle on the finish of 2023.
—Sonal Patel is a POWER senior affiliate editor (@sonalcpatel, @POWERmagazine).
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